Overdose Deaths

Local and federal law enforcement credit a cooperative effort for busting a Chicago-based drug gang that made ordering a bag of heroin as simple as placing a phone call. “This was a 24-hour-a-day, retail-sales heroin operation,” said United States Attorney Andy Luger. “The way this would work is you would call one of two different phone numbers that were known as dispatch phone numbers — almost like you were calling a cab or you were ordering food.”

A North Dakota man who admitted to cooking up synthetic drugs that led to the overdose deaths of two teens has been sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison. Twenty-two-year-old Andrew Spofford, of Grand Forks, is the 12th person sentenced in the wide-ranging conspiracy. His sentence is the longest by five years. Spofford pleaded guilty in October to five counts, including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances resulting in serious bodily injury and death.